Tobacco giant Philip Morris International has just bought the rights to a new technology for delivering nicotine in a aerosol spray. The upside: Nicotine addicts get their fix without all the toxins associated with smoking. The downside: It'll be at least three years before it hits the market.

The message about the dangers of secondhand smoke and the importance of providing smoke-free homes has paid off. Fewer children visited a doctor or a hospital for ear infections in the 13 years of research from Harvard School of Public Health and the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland.

The FDA issued warning letters to five electronic cigarette distributors, saying the products are being marketed illegally as safer alternatives to smoking and even as smoking-cessation aids. The agency says they must seek FDA approval in order to continue making those claims.